FIMA Ch38: What Are You Looking At?

Although he was indeed very angry, the desire to get close to this person couldn’t be stopped.

Xie Jinzhao still slowly shuffled over: “What are you looking at?”

Gu Siyuan cast a glance at him: “Looking at the netizens’ feedback after watching the variety show.”

Hearing this, Xie Jinzhao couldn’t help but feel a bit smug: “I read the bullet comments. They seem to like me quite a bit.”

Gu Siyuan nodded: “You’re so cute, it’s normal that they like you.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao.

What’s going on, why is he suddenly saying such nice things?

It almost made me blurt out and ask, ‘Since I’m so cute, do you like me?’

Gu Siyuan turned his head to look at him again: “What are your thoughts on hyping a CP with Xi Shuang? Xi Shuang’s manager contacted me. He said he wants to take advantage of the high national favorability right now.”

Xie Jinzhao couldn’t quite keep up with his train of thought, replying blankly: “What do you think? I’ll listen to you.”

Gu Siyuan’s sword-like eyebrows raised slightly; he was quite satisfied with this reaction.

“Except during a drama’s broadcast period due to character requirements, as a young male star, it’s best not to have a real-person male-female CP exist at other times. You know the audience nowadays easily takes it seriously. If it’s a male-male CP, at most, netizens will treat the CP fans’ words as a joke. But if it’s male-female, especially for the male party, if not handled well, it’s very easy to leave the audience with a ‘scumbag’ impression. I’ve researched it; there are already many cautionary tales.”

“Oh…” Xie Jinzhao nodded, and then cast a rather hesitant look at him.

Seeing this, Gu Siyuan’s gaze turned slightly cold: “What, do you have a different opinion?”

Xie Jinzhao quickly shook his head.

How would I dare?

He hesitated for a moment, asking softly: “Besides the one with Xi Shuang… did you see the other one?”

Gu Siyuan paused for a moment, coughed lightly, and said: “Oh, the one you asked about earlier, are you referring to the CP between you and me?”

Xie Jinzhao nodded, opening his eyes that were like spring water: “You really saw it?”

Gu Siyuan nodded.

During the final segment of the variety show, almost half the people on the bullet screen were spamming it. How could I not see it?

He lowered his eyes and said gently to Xie Jinzhao: “This CP is completely beneficial and harmless to you. I’m not in the circle, so all the goodwill from the CP fans will only be projected and reflected onto you. Furthermore, it can help share the pressure coming from Xi Shuang’s side. I think… there’s actually no need to stop it.”

After listening, Xie Jinzhao blinked. Stunned for a long time, he finally gave a thumbs-up in praise: “Your… your thoughts are so rational. So, this was your first reaction?”

Gu Siyuan nodded as if it were only natural: “I am your manager. Thinking for you, and even sacrificing my reputation for you, is what I should do.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao was completely speechless, slowly turning his body back around.

Hmph, there’s no answer to be found here with Gu Siyuan. I’ll go check Weibo. I think I saw those CP fans saying they were going to create a Super Topic or something?

If there’s no hope in reality, can’t I go find food for myself online?

Gu Siyuan stopped scrolling through his phone, slightly turning his eyes to look at the slender back of the person beside him, narrowing his eyes.

He had always suspected that Xie Jinzhao’s feelings for Qi Run didn’t seem to be what the system had described. But now, he slowly realized—could it be because Xie Jinzhao had transferred those feelings onto him?

So, has Xie Jinzhao fallen in love with me?

I truly never expected that one of my primary methods for executing missions in this world would actually be by selling my male charm?

…Although, Xie Jinzhao is indeed very good-looking and very cute. Sometimes I also want to hold him in my arms and rub him.

But it seems that not long ago, I just warned this guy that he wasn’t allowed to date…

The phone rang a few times; it was Xi Shuang’s manager following up.

Gu Siyuan lowered his head and resolutely replied to the other party, conveying his Xie Jinzhao’s intention to refuse hyping the CP.

After dealing with that, he clicked into the official variety show Weibo for Who is the Adventure King.

Among the various video clips, the ones containing his and Xie Jinzhao’s full names had the highest playback volume and comments.

Under the videos with his name, aside from a sea of “hubby” and rainbow farts (extravagant praise), the audience was constantly asking for directions—wanting to know his identity, wanting to know if he had Weibo or other social media accounts, wanting to follow him.

However, unfortunately, there were absolutely none.

Perhaps when his company went public, he would appear with another identity. Before that, he had to keep an extremely low profile.

At this time, Director Wang sent a message on WeChat.

He reminded them to sleep early tonight. Tomorrow morning at 8:12 AM was the best time calculated by the master. Everyone had to be fully assembled on set before then, to burn incense and pray for blessings for a highly auspicious start to filming.

Therefore, excluding the time for getting ready, makeup, and traveling to the set, everyone had to wake up at 7:00 AM at the latest.

Thinking of the start of filming tomorrow…

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes and clicked into Xie Jinzhao’s Super Topic. It was filled with an atmosphere of soaring joy.

This was the happiest time for the fans since Xie Jinzhao’s last drama finished broadcasting.

Not only because there was fresh content of Xie Jinzhao to watch, but because of this program, Xie Jinzhao’s originally poor public favorability seemed to have instantly flipped completely.

The variety show clips featuring Xie Jinzhao on Weibo had already been shared seventy or eighty thousand times by passersby. The reposts and comments were basically all filled with laughter, finding Xie Jinzhao’s gap-moe (contrast cuteness) very endearing.

On other short video apps, the likes had even surpassed a million. And this was only tonight. Come daytime tomorrow, that would be when the favorability truly began to ferment.

Xie Jinzhao’s fans also knew very well how to adapt to the times. Right now, they had instantly transformed into the softest, cutest existences in the world, politely giving directions under the comments of all passersby who wanted to know more about Xie Jinzhao.

Even if there were occasionally a few toxic passersby or black fans, they had absolutely no intention of arguing or retorting; instead, they obediently apologized and greeted them.

They were simply the most cultured user group on the internet, bar none.

However, even though Gu Siyuan, as Xie Jinzhao’s manager, was very biased toward his own fans, he knew this was merely a temporary illusion.

The fan group was an entity that made people find them both lovable and infuriating.

Gu Siyuan put down his phone and asked Xie Jinzhao: “How long has it been since you communicated with your fans?”

Looking up from his short videos, Xie Jinzhao thought for a moment and said: “More than two months. However, since my debut, my persona has been aloof and high-cold, so my fans are very used to me frequently not appearing.”

Gu Siyuan said in a low voice: “Then from now on, roughly at regular intervals, appropriately post an original Weibo or short video to pander to your fans.”

Originally sitting cross-legged on the carpet, holding his iPad with both hands and swiping through the duo CP videos that the capable big-shot fans had rapidly edited…

Hearing Gu Siyuan’s shocking words, his hands suddenly became unsteady. Such a large object dropped directly down and smashed between his legs.

He shrieked and jumped up.

Sitting next to him, Gu Siyuan was also startled. Also being a male, who couldn’t understand this disaster?

He hurriedly pulled the person onto his lap to sit down, reached out his other hand to feel that area, showing a rare expression of anxiety: “How is it, are you okay? Do we need to go to the hospital?”

Xie Jinzhao froze completely.

It wasn’t because of the pain, but because he completely hadn’t expected Gu Siyuan to make such a move.

Think about it. Being touched like this by the person you like—while your face turns explosively red, that disappointing thing directly reacted.

Feeling the “salute” action under his palm, Gu Siyuan slowly withdrew his hand. Glancing between his legs, he said leisurely: “It seems to be fine. The reaction is quite rapid.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao’s face instantly turned explosively red.

It has nothing to do with me, he’s just disappointing on his own.
I can explain, do you believe me?

“Heh…” Looking at the person in his arms completely stiffened into a stone statue, Gu Siyuan couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.

A few days ago, he was pretending to be so experienced, flirting with me. Yet now, we haven’t even engaged in real combat, and he’s already like this…

Xie Jinzhao didn’t want to speak. Covering his face with his hands, his body weakly tilted, and his entire person stiffly smashed into Gu Siyuan’s embrace. His face bumped against the hard, warm pectoral muscles, and he subconsciously rubbed against them.

He decided that today he would be a koala growing in Gu Siyuan’s embrace. No one could make him get up, and no one could separate them.

After an unknown amount of time, Gu Siyuan reached out and pinched the pale, slender nape of the person in his arms. “Did you hear what I just told you?”

Leaning in his embrace, Xie Jinzhao said in a muffled voice: “Pander to fans? You even know about pandering to fans?”

Gu Siyuan looked down at the cute hair whorl on his head, yet the words that came out were as cold as ever: “Whatever line of work you’re in, you should love it. I have carefully researched current fan culture.”

With his forehead still pressed dead against his chest, Xie Jinzhao stuck out a thumb from the gap: “Very awesome!”

He could even treat being a manager like writing a thesis. I guess this is what awesome people are like.

“Tomorrow Brocade Robes and Jade Capital starts filming. With so many reporters on site, the news of you starring in it will definitely spread.”

Gu Siyuan continued: “The investment scale and production team of this drama are indeed not on the same level compared to those you’ve acted in before. Never mind the sour and sarcastic remarks of others, but your fans will probably feel very uncomfortable.”

Xie Jinzhao finally raised his head, looking up at Gu Siyuan from within his embrace. Even looking from this “death angle,” Gu Siyuan’s handsomeness still had no blind spots. In fact, because they were so close, his facial features appeared even deeper, adding a compelling sharpness.

Looking at the man, he asked: “So, you telling me to go online and pander to fans just now was to pacify them?”

Gu Siyuan’s expression remained unchanged: “The downgrade in resources is a solid fact. A vague, ambiguous Weibo post will definitely not be able to pacify the fans. It’s just conveying an attitude, indicating that you actually care about them and have the intention to communicate.”

“Oh.”

Xie Jinzhao nodded.

But after responding, he didn’t make a sound for a long time. His gaze was distant, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes: “You’re not willing?”

“No…” Xie Jinzhao sighed, rubbing his head in frustration before opening his mouth to say: “It’s just that I feel, isn’t it a bit too insidious of me to do this?”

Gu Siyuan seemed to instantly understand his thought process.

He raised his hand, lightly patted the slender waist of the person in his arms, and said coldly: “Get down.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao couldn’t believe it.

No way?
Just one unsatisfactory sentence, and he won’t let me sit on his lap or lean on his pecs anymore?

“Hurry up,” Gu Siyuan’s voice urged from above.

Xie Jinzhao was truly annoyed. He first raised his head and glared fiercely at Gu Siyuan. Then, lust emboldening his courage, he directly reached out and viciously stroked the hard pectoral muscles several times.

Before Gu Siyuan could react, he bounded away like his butt was on fire.

“…” Gu Siyuan.

What is wrong with young people nowadays?

Gu Siyuan had long arms, long legs, and great strength. In two or three moves, he yanked the guy who had just bounded away right back.

A thin cushion had been placed at some unknown point directly opposite him. Gu Siyuan picked the person up, put him down on it, and said coldly: “I told you to get off me because I need to give you a lesson.”

“Oh…”

Hugging his knees, Xie Jinzhao shrank on the cushion. This time, he was truly explosively red all over.

Is there anything more embarrassing in the world than this? How did I seemingly become the most desperate-for-sex person in the world?

Looking at him, Gu Siyuan said: “From now on, put away those messy thoughts. Look at me, I’m talking to you about serious business.”

“Oh,” Xie Jinzhao immediately widened his eyes.

Gu Siyuan stared at him coldly: “You think comforting fans is insidious. This thought of yours is what’s truly stupid. You really let your fans down.”

Giving an angry hmph, Xie Jinzhao puffed his cheeks and said: “Then explain it to me.”

Gu Siyuan let out a cold laugh and asked: “To be where you are now, you should be very grateful to your fans, right?”

Xie Jinzhao nodded without hesitation.

I know my own situation. My looks are indeed not bad, but my acting… although Gu Siyuan said I have talent, talent is talent, reality is reality, and currently, it is what it is.

In this circle, there are many people with better acting skills than me, but the resources and money they can get are far inferior. I have all this largely because of what my fans brought me.

Gu Siyuan continued asking: “Then have you thought about how to repay this fondness? Is it by chatting and getting in close contact with them whenever you have free time, or by producing good works?”

Xie Jinzhao sat up straight: “Of course it’s the latter. I want to try my best to be a person they can feel proud of…”

Gu Siyuan said coldly: “Since that’s the case, aren’t those previous thoughts of yours about ‘using’ them extremely stupid? Because of the information asymmetry between the two parties, many of the choices you make—although they may seem optimal to you at the time—your fans don’t know that. Therefore, there will inevitably be all sorts of dissatisfaction. Even if it wasn’t Brocade Robes and Jade Capital, there would be something else in the future.”

“At times like these, no matter what happens, you absolutely should not remain silent, and even less should you treat this as ‘using’ or anything else. Because they are very eager to know your thoughts and get your response. You are their backbone; you should comfort them and guide them correctly.”

Xie Jinzhao blinked and said slowly: “I was just afraid that even if I really said it, the final result still wouldn’t be satisfactory.”

“Since they chose to be fans of a traffic artist like you, it’s very obvious that they aren’t afraid of waiting, nor are they afraid of one disappointment. They are only afraid of hopeless waiting, afraid of endless, constant disappointment.”

“Your silence is what’s truly hurting them; it’s both stupid and insidious.” Gu Siyuan said seriously: “Therefore, as long as you’re not making them charge into battle for you, appropriate communication and guidance at other times is not using them; it’s… love and caring.”

After listening to his explanation, it took Xie Jinzhao a long while before he finally popped out a sentence: “Gu Siyuan, it’s truly a pity you didn’t go into a pyramid scheme…”

Gu Siyuan scoffed: “How much money can a pyramid scheme company make in a year? I make way more than them. Would I even consider it?”

“…” Xie Jinzhao.

Very good, you’re awesome!

Everything unfolded exactly as Gu Siyuan predicted.

The next morning, after the start-of-filming photos of Brocade Robes and Jade Capital were spread by media and major marketing accounts, Xie Jinzhao’s fans directly exploded.

At first, they didn’t really believe it, thinking they were photoshopped by black fans. But eventually, even the start-of-filming videos were spread. There was no way to deny that it wasn’t Xie Jinzhao.

The obedient, soft, and cute demeanor from the day before seemed to have been a complete illusion.

Fans big and small all revealed their true faces, directly tagging the company and his manager on their Webio accounts to curse them out.

Words like “trash,” “freeloaders,” and “your mom died” flew everywhere.

Not only that, but they also directly went to the official Weibo of Xie Jinzhao’s former company, almost filling up the comments of every post they had made recently.

Seeing this, Xie Jinzhao’s former company hurriedly issued an announcement, stating that their contract with Xie Jinzhao had expired a few days ago, and wishing him all the best in the future.

Just at this moment, a Blue V (verified organization) account with the ID “Xie Jinzhao Studio” appeared. It reposted this brief announcement message, first expressing gratitude to the former company, and then stating that from now on, all affairs related to Xie Jinzhao would be operated by this studio.

This simple action instantly extinguished a portion of the fans’ anger.

Xie Jinzhao’s former company was purely an idol singer company and provided almost no help to Xie Jinzhao’s film and television resources. Moreover, they frequently made Xie Jinzhao “drag airplanes” (use his popularity to boost newcomers). The fans utterly detested them and had accumulated grievances for a long time.

Even every year, no matter what holiday wishes they made, the first one was always for Xie Jinzhao to quickly terminate his contract with that broken company.

Now that their dream suddenly came true, it was truly an unexpected surprise.

If it weren’t for the matter of Brocade Robes and Jade Capital starting filming earlier, the fans would probably have already started retweeting and holding lucky draws on Weibo to celebrate.

However, some people still had doubts.

Leaving the dog company was a good thing, but why did his resources downgrade instead of upgrading?

What kind of bullshit configuration is this ‘Brocade Robes and Jade Capital’?
How is it worthy of Xie Jinzhao’s status?

Right at this moment, a fan explained: “Could this Brocade Robes and Jade Capital be a breakup drama with the dog company? From establishing a project to starting filming takes at least four or five months, even half a year. He definitely came into contact with it a long time ago.”
“Very likely. I remember before those four young actors and actresses terminated their contracts with their companies, it seemed they were all forced to either carry newcomers or help the company digest their rotten IP inventory?”
“That’s definitely it. This production crew definitely gave a lot of money. The trashy company wants money over their lives.”
“I was wondering why when we scolded the trashy company before and asked them to do anti-black PR for Jinzhao, there was no action at all. It seems it was deliberate, suppressing him before he left, trying to force him to renew his contract.”
“It’s best if the dog company goes bankrupt early. Thank goodness Jinzhao left.”

Right then, another fan said: “I went and researched that Brocade Robes and Jade Capital. Looking at the crew instructions, they’re only filming for 100 days. A little over three months will pass quickly. If worse comes to worst, let’s just pretend it doesn’t exist!”
“Right, now that he’s opened his own studio, he’ll have freedom in accepting scripts in the future. Let’s simply pretend this one doesn’t exist, okay?”
“Before, whenever a drama started filming, our cub would post a Weibo celebrating the start. This time there’s nothing. He himself is definitely unsatisfied too. Being forced to take this drama, who knows how terrible he feels inside!”
“Yes, our cub being forced is already pitiful enough, and now he has to be mocked by haters for his resources downgrading. We fans cannot blame him anymore.”
“Mn, we must support him.”

Without needing any further guidance, the fans brainstormed an entire dramatic plot all on their own, which was extremely wonderful.

“No, I’m not at ease. We still need to go to the studio’s page and urge them a bit. Although it’s a trashy crew, the ancient costumes and styling still need to be done well. Otherwise, those bitchy haters will take ugly screenshots to smear him.”
“Makes sense. Let’s go urge them about the makeup and styling. At other times, we’ll pretend it doesn’t exist. Anyway, three months will pass quickly.”
“Yes, waiting for our cub to terminate his contract with the trashy company, I’ve waited for four years. Am I afraid of waiting these three months?”
“Mn mn, you’re right.”

With this, Xie Jinzhao’s fans instantly shifted the battlefield, swarming directly to the newly minted studio’s page.

One by one, the young maidens instantly transformed into nagging mothers, giving the studio all sorts of instructions.

For example, paying attention to styling, keeping an eye on the wind direction in various forums to timely counter hate, taking good care of their cub, hiring a nutritionist, and so on.

Additionally, like other stars, Xie Jinzhao’s fan group also had a few big-shot fans capable of writing mini-essays or boasting impressively.

This time, they also played a massive role, writing lengthy essays.

First, the beginning of the text emotionally and vividly described Xie Jinzhao’s involuntary circumstances. Then came pacifying the emotions of the smaller, scattered fans, telling them to stay calm and trust Xie Jinzhao. Finally, they arrogantly tagged @XieJinzhaoStudioV to issue a warning, teaching them how to do things from now on, “otherwise your whole family is gone.”

All this back and forth took a mere day’s time.

At the film studio city, a smooth day of filming concluded.

In the evening, Gu Siyuan accompanied Xie Jinzhao back to the hotel. While the person went in to shower, he logged onto the studio’s Weibo to take a look.

As soon as he opened it, there were non-stop notification sounds. Unread messages exceeded tens of thousands; some were private messages from fans, some were comments, and some were curses.

He frowned and simply decided not to read a single one.

Logging out of the studio account, he switched to a small burner account he had bought previously, then started searching for the studio’s name ID, thinking he’d just pick a few with the highest reposts, likes, comments, and views to read.

Heh, there really are quite a lot.

And they were all lengthy mini-essays, written by fans. A few accounts were already very familiar to him because they frequently appeared when he searched Xie Jinzhao’s name.

However, the mini-essays were actually written quite well. With their clear train of thought, it was truly a pity not to snatch them up to write academic papers and materials.

They are all talents.

Regarding this subsequent development, Gu Siyuan was quite satisfied in his heart. The reason he delayed announcing the establishment of the studio was for exactly this moment.

To provide a buffer for the fans’ emotions when they exploded.

He continued scrolling down.

Suddenly, something interesting appeared. This was also a Weibo post, and it included his and Xie Jinzhao’s names. The repost and comment volumes were very high, but at first glance, the original post showed absolutely nothing—just a vast expanse of white.

According to the instructions in the original post, one had to click to open the image, scroll all the way down, all the way down, and then they could see the true content.

Gu Siyuan was genuinely curious.

When Xie Jinzhao came out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe, he saw Gu Siyuan holding his phone and smiling. That smile felt both helpless and somewhat novel, and was much gentler than when he faced him.

He was truly angry. So as a living, breathing, top-tier beautiful man, I can’t even compare to a broken phone?

Xie Jinzhao puffed his cheeks, walked over quietly, and then suddenly spoke up: “What are you looking at?”

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